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Psalm 106

2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lordor fully declare his praise?3 Blessed are those who act justly,who always do what is right.

4 Remember me,Lord, when you show favor to your people,come to my aid when you save them,5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,that I may share in the joy of your nationand join your inheritance in giving praise.

6 We have sinned, even as our ancestors did;we have done wrong and acted wickedly.7 When our ancestors were in Egypt,they gave no thought to your miracles;they did not remember your many kindnesses,and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.[b]8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,to make his mighty power known.9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;he led them through the depths as through a desert.10 He saved them from the hand of the foe;from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.11 The waters covered their adversaries;not one of them survived.12 Then they believed his promisesand sang his praise.

13 But they soon forgot what he had doneand did not wait for his plan to unfold.14 In the desert they gave in to their craving;in the wilderness they put God to the test.15 So he gave them what they asked for,but sent a wasting disease among them.

16 In the camp they grew envious of Mosesand of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord.17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;it buried the company of Abiram.18 Fire blazed among their followers;a flame consumed the wicked.19 At Horeb they made a calfand worshiped an idol cast from metal.20 They exchanged their glorious Godfor an image of a bull, which eats grass.21 They forgot the God who saved them,who had done great things in Egypt,22 miracles in the land of Hamand awesome deeds by the Red Sea.23 So he said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one,stood in the breach before himto keep his wrath from destroying them.

24 Then they despised the pleasant land;they did not believe his promise.25 They grumbled in their tentsand did not obey the Lord.26 So he swore to them with uplifted handthat he would make them fall in the wilderness,27 make their descendants fall among the nationsand scatter them throughout the lands.

28 They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peorand ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;29 they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds,and a plague broke out among them.30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened,and the plague was checked.31 This was credited to him as righteousnessfor endless generations to come.32 By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord,and trouble came to Moses because of them;33 for they rebelled against the Spirit of God,and rash words came from Moses’ lips.[c]

34 They did not destroy the peoplesas the Lord had commanded them,35 but they mingled with the nationsand adopted their customs.36 They worshiped their idols,which became a snare to them.37 They sacrificed their sonsand their daughters to false gods.38 They shed innocent blood,the blood of their sons and daughters,whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,and the land was desecrated by their blood.39 They defiled themselves by what they did;by their deeds they prostituted themselves.

40 Therefore the Lord was angry with his peopleand abhorred his inheritance.41 He gave them into the hands of the nations,and their foes ruled over them.42 Their enemies oppressed themand subjected them to their power.43 Many times he delivered them,but they were bent on rebellionand they wasted away in their sin.44 Yet he took note of their distresswhen he heard their cry;45 for their sake he remembered his covenantand out of his great love he relented.46 He caused all who held them captiveto show them mercy.

47 Save us,Lord our God,and gather us from the nations,that we may give thanks to your holy nameand glory in your praise.

48 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,from everlasting to everlasting.

Micah’s Idols

17 Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim2 said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have that silver with me; I took it.”

Then his mother said, “The Lord bless you, my son!”

3 When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make an image overlaid with silver. I will give it back to you.”

4 So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels[b] of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol. And it was put in Micah’s house.

5 Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest.6 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

7 A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within the clan of Judah,8 left that town in search of some other place to stay. On his way[c] he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.

9 Micah asked him, “Where are you from?”

“I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he said, “and I’m looking for a place to stay.”

10 Then Micah said to him, “Live with me and be my father and priest, and I’ll give you ten shekels[d] of silver a year, your clothes and your food.”11 So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man became like one of his sons to him.12 Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house.13 And Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.”

44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David,46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[a]47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:

49 “‘Heaven is my throne,and the earth is my footstool.What kind of house will you build for me?says the Lord.Or where will my resting place be?50 Has not my hand made all these things?’[b]

51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

8 And Saul approved of their killing him.

The Church Persecuted and Scattered

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

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